Parliamentary Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang has questioned the credibility of former education director-general Dr Wan Mohd Zahid Mohd Noordin to lead the Committee to Study, Review and Make Recommendations Concerning the Development and Directions of Higher Education in Malaysia.

Formed on Jan 17, the committee is tasked with preparing a comprehensive report on its findings and recommendations to improve the quality of higher education.

It is scheduled to complete the report, which will be handed to Higher Education Minister Dr Mohd Shafie Salleh, by July 17.

"Is a former education director-general the most suitable candidate to head such a study, when he must bear responsibility for the unchecked decline in university standards, quality, excellence an dinternational ranking in the past three decades?" asked Lim in a statement today.

He said the government's most important role in higher education is to create world-class universities by ensuring a conducive environment to produce great scholars, intellectuals, vice-chancellors.

He claimed that Wan Mohd "failed to understand this when he was the education director-general."

Lim cited the case of University Malaya (UM) economics lecturer Assoc Prof Dr Edmund Terence Gomez, who was denied a two-year leave of secondment to take up a research appointment at the Geneva-based United Nations Research Institute for Social Development as part of the continuing and worsening crisis of higher education.

The veteran politician criticised Wan Mohd for not "batting an eyelid or showing any concern" on Gomez's case .

UM's down slide

He also asked the former DG to pinpoint the causes and propose rectifications in regards to UM falling 71 places behind the National University of Singapore (NUS) - in academic quality and excellence.

NUS has been rated 18 in a global ranking of universities by The Times of London. Published in The Times Higher Education Supplement on Nov 5, 2004, the World University Rankings lists the top 200 universities globally. UM has been placed 89 on the list.

On the report to be compiled by the higher education committee, Lim said he would like an assurance from Wan Mohd that the report would be made public when it is completed.

He said the committee did not inspire much confidence and expectation because it lacked publicity.

"In fact, the overwhelming majority of members of Parliament are unaware that it exists, although it is now in the last quarter of its six-month life-span," he added.

He also queried why academicians such as Dr Syed Husein Alatas, K S Jomo and Dr Chandra Muzaffar were not included in the committee.

Among the academicians and professionals who make up the committee are Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) board of directors chairperson Dr Zainul Ariff Hussain, Integrity Institute of Malaysia president Sulaiman Mahbob and Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) vice-chancellor Dzulkifli Abdul Razak.

The 12-member team was appointed by Shafie.